National Merit and MIT

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

Hey all,

MIT is my top choice for colleges, so I am inclined to put that on my NMSF application. However, from what I understand (please correct me if I’m wrong), MIT does not give out any additional money for national merit. I can only get the $2,500 NMF scholarship, which applies to all colleges if I put MIT as my first choice. There are other colleges that will give you money for NMF, but only if you list them as a first choice. So, would it look bad if I placed a college such as USC as my first choice on the NMF application when I apply to MIT?

Thanks!

2

Just put ‘Undecided’.

3

I’ve heard that you can change it after you submit the NMF application? If this is true, can I put MIT down as my first-choice during the EA cycle, and then change it if I don’t get in?

4

You can change the first-choice college for National Merit until the end of April or beginning of May at least, and maybe later. If you win a national $2500 scholarship, it is completely portable to the new choice of college. The tricky aspect is that some of the colleges that give larger scholarships to National Merit Finalists require that their college is listed as your top choice at the point that the scholarship decisions are being made. With EA, you should know ahead of the date for many of the scholarship decisions, but perhaps not all. Actually, I doubt whether MIT Admissions cares whether they are listed as your top choice with National Merit, or not. They surely know that some colleges do care, and that this will affect people who need outside funds to pay for college.

5

My top 2 choices are MIT and UMich. I’m putting UMich as mine because if I DO get into MIT and I go there, I know that they will probably meet around 95% of the total cost of attendance as demonstrated need, and anything left wont be much to pay. If I get into U mich and not MIT, however, then as an OOS I’ll have to pay a lot and I’ll need all the help I can get. I’d say put your 2nd highest school as ur choice for National Merit, and if you get into MIT, then change it (although you probably wont need to since MIT is so nice with financial aid)